Devices for closing containers are known from DE 10 2007 057 857 A1 as closing machines for closing bottles with screw closures that are attached by screwing onto a bottle-side male thread in the region of the bottle mouth in different versions.
In known devices, a closure is applied with a closer tool or closer cone in which the bottle closure is held until it is applied to a bottle and that can be driven to rotate by a drive for the application of the closure onto the bottle or for screwing on.
During the closing process, because of the geometrical circumstances on a closing machine, it is often necessary to vary a distance between the bottom of the closer cone and the top of the bottle mouth, e.g. in order to compensate for variation in distance arising from the operation of screwing the closure onto the threads. With certain embodiments of known closers, this distance is varied by having the bottom of the closer cone remain at one height level ile the container to be closed executes all necessary motions in the vertical plane.
As DE 10 2007 057 857 A1 further discloses, known closing machines, i.e. screw closers and also crown stopper machines, have, on a rotor that can be driven to rotate about a vertical machine axis, a plurality of closer stations, each with a closer tool and with a bottle carrier or container carrier that, as the rotor rotates, can be moved up and down under control of a lifting cam, this being for feeding a bottle to the closer tool before closing and for separating the closed bottle from the closer tool.
Closing machines in which containers are closed with the aid of crown stoppers are also known. Variations in the distance, for which compensation may be necessary, also occur on such closing machines. This can be achieved as described above. There is, of course, no screwing motion of the closing die in this case.
Hence closing machines are known whose container carriers are controlled by way of mechanical lifting cams. DE 10 2007 057 857 A1 makes the practical proposal of replacing such lifting cam drives by a controlled and regulated drive.
The proposal set forth by DE 10 2007 057 857 A1 has proven to be of value in practice to the extent that the required vertical motion was configurable in a user-programmable manner. A linear motor could, for example, be used for the controlled or regulated linear motion.
DE 10 2009 017 019 A1 is also concerned with a closing machine, although in this instance a torque is transmitted magnetically from the drive shaft to the closer tool. This too has proven to be of value in practice.